Sea Around Us project manager, Dr. Deng Palomares. Photo by Paul Joseph.
The Sea Around Us project manager, Dr. Maria ‘Deng’ Palomares, has been invited to become a member of the international steering committee for the “Sustainability, Predictability and Resilience of Marine Ecosystems” (SUPREME) program, which is led by the United States of America’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and endorsed by the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (UNDOS).
The goal of SUPREME is to convene a network of global partners to share information and support the production of robust climate- and ocean-related forecasts, predictions, and projections to guide effective marine ecosystem management and adaptation strategies in a changing climate.
Dr. Palomares’ publication record and expertise in garnering, analyzing, managing and making available global data on aquatic biodiversity and marine fisheries catches granted her the invitation to SUPREME’s Steering Committee.
In the Committee’s view, she will play an important role in helping inform and guide the program’s focus areas, activities and engagement efforts.
The Steering Committee is comprised of people in academia, NGOs, government, stakeholder groups, multilateral organizations, private sector, among others. This committee aims to: 1) ensure that the program’s activities align with goals, objectives, and expected outcomes; 2) advise and guide ad-hoc working groups for planning specific activities, tasks, workshops, or other fora of engagement with partners and stakeholders; 3) support the establishment of regional/topical teams; supporting communication and engagement with UN Ocean Decade Collaboration Centers and UN Ocean Decade partner programs; and 5) engage with other nations’ entities to communicate efforts and generate interest and involvement, among other tasks.
The SUPREME program seeks to address the following Ocean Decade challenges:
- Challenge 2: Protect and restore ecosystems and biodiversity
- Challenge 3: Sustainably feed the global population
- Challenge 4: Develop a sustainable and equitable ocean economy
- Challenge 5: Unlock ocean-based solutions to climate change
- Challenge 9: Skills, knowledge and technology for all
- Challenge 10: Change humanity’s relationship with the ocean